Putin arrived in Crimea at the naval port of Sevastopol only hours after a Victory Day parade in Moscow's Red Square, where he told the crowd of Russian military and civilians, "This is the day we celebrate the force of patriotism, when we all realize what it means to be faithful to our homeland and how it important it is to defend it and its interests."

He then flew to Sevastopol, capital of the recently-annexed peninsula of Crimea, where he addressed a navy parade celebrating the 69th anniversary of the victory in World War II and the 70th Sevastopol liberation from the Nazis.

The first vehicle in a procession there featured a huge Crimean flag, according to the New York Times, continuing the Russian government's theme of equating its annexation of Crimea with the defeat of fascists.

“I am confident that 2014 will go down in the annals of our country, as the year when peoples who live here firmly determined to be with Russia,” Putin said in his speach, “thus reaffirming their loyalty to the historical truth and memory of our ancestors.”

The Russian president added that there was “a lot of work ahead,” but said Russia would overcome the difficulties “because we are together, and so we became even stronger.”

Unmarked Russian soldiers entered Crimea in early March and slowly began to take over key government installations until the entire peninsula was under the Kremlin's control. The Crimean people then held a referendum in which they voted —under the gun — to become a part of Russia. Putin has said the invasion was necessary to protect ethnic Russians in Crimea from fascist Ukrainian rioters and that by taking over Crimea, Russia was really just correcting a historical mistake.

Western nations, including the United States, levied sanctions — including travel bans and asset freezes — on Putin and his inner circle following the annexation, but Putin has seemed largely unfazed so far. Russian forces have continued to covertly stir unrest in eastern Ukraine — now Crimea is almost a distant memory.

On Wednesday, though, Putin surprisingly said he supported Ukraine's presidential elections on May 25, and urged pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine to postpone their referendum, which is very similar to the one Crimea had in March. However, the separatists said on Thursday that they will go forward with the vote on Sunday despite Putin's words.

Shortly after Putin's visit to Crimea, the Ukrainian government condemned the Russian president, calling his visit "unauthorized" in a statement:

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine expresses the strongest protest against today’s unauthorised visit by President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin to the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol, temporally occupied by Russia.

Ukraine considers this step to be a blatant disrespect by the Russian side for the legislation of Ukraine, international law; gross violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty, the United Nations Charter, the United Nations General Assembly Resolution "On Territorial Integrity of Ukraine ", as well as the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership between Ukraine and the Russian Federation of 1997.

This provocation makes yet another clear evidence that Russia has been consciously escalating tensions in Ukrainian-Russian relations and unwilling to bring bilateral disputes to diplomatic solution.

We demand the Russian side to return to the civilized way of international relations, listen to the decisive voice of international community, as well as repeal all the illegal acts on occupation and annexation of the part of Ukraine’s territory.

A totally different mood just north

A man raises a flag on a rooftop in Odessa, Ukraine during Victory Day on May 9, 2014.

Image: Evgeny Feldman

Meanwhile in the coastal town of Odessa, which is just 300 miles north of Crimea, Victory Day has a solemn undertone.

This week, Ukraine’s third-largest city has been mourning the dozens of people who died in clashes between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian nationalists on May 2. The violence began when two demonstrations — one consisting of pro-Ukrainian nationalists holding a unity march, the other supporters of Russia — collided in a melee of smoke grenades, Molotov cocktails, flares and cobblestone bricks.

A man stands in the window of an Odessa building on May 7. The building was burned during the violent clashes on May 2.

On May 8, people in Odessa mourned victims of the May 2 clashes that killed dozens.

Image: Evgeny Feldman

Tensions have been building for awhile and Odessa as rumors circle throughout the city about what happened during the May 2 clashes. Mashable photographer Evgeny Feldman, who is on the ground in Odessa this week, said those rumors range from talk of snipers on rooftops, to people claiming "hundreds" of people died and their bodies were secretly buried in a hidden place. While none of these claims are based on facts, they are kindling a fire of fear that had already been lit weeks ago.

Officials in Kiev fear more violence on Friday if rival camps rally for Victory Day. Some expect acts of terror, but more clashes are very possible. A few Euromaidan supporters told Feldman that they will only get involved if the pro-Russian crowd tries to seize government buildings. They have stocked rifles and weapons at the Maidan activist headquarters — ready to fight at a moment's notice.

[Editor's note: This story originally included a photo of President Putin exiting a plane that Mashable has since learned is from 2011. We've removed it.]

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